Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach may be aware that in ancient Roman mythology and religion, Janus was a god with two faces, in other words, two people in one. I suggest to the Taoiseach that when it comes to his attitude towards EU announcements, people could be forgiven for believing we have two different taoisigh or two taoisigh in one body.

When it comes to the European Union telling us we should collect €13 billion in unpaid taxes from a tax evading company, Apple, the Taoiseach is the patriotic firebrand and eurocritic who is standing up for the nation and telling the EU not to interfere with the right of the Irish people to decide their own policies. However, when it comes to the EU telling us we must accept a regressive, unpopular, unwanted austerity tax in the form of water charges, he suddenly becomes a little puppy dog who rolls over in the most servile fashion and tells us we must obey every single diktat that comes from the EU, regardless of the fact the people of this country have clearly given their verdict on water charges and do not want them.

I want the Taoiseach to explain these two different taoisigh and these two utterly different attitudes to the EU. When it comes to standing up for ordinary working people and, indeed, democracy on an issue like water charges, he says that, no, we just have to do what the EU tells us-----

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